Digital Platforms in Teaching Arabic Dialects

Abstract

The use of teaching platforms and accessible online materials is a response to the increasing demand for distance training courses and, consequently, the need for innovation in the methodological, technical and strategical approaches to language teaching. In Teaching Arabic Language as Foreign Language (TAFL) the linguistic variation represents nowadays a central issue in the teaching practice. The Arabic linguistic world is usually described as diglossic speech communities. In the last decades, this representation of linguistic reality has been reviewed. The reconceptualisation of the diglossic theory leads to a deep reconsideration of the didactic material to use in teaching Arabic besides dialects as foreign language. Our proposal deals with the use of MOODLE in teaching Arabic colloquial varieties besides Modern Standard Arabic.

1. Introduction

1.1 Teaching Arabic language in a post-pandemic academic context

In recent years, the teaching of foreign languages has faced challenges posed by the need to find pedagogical solutions in line with an unprecedented growth in digital resources in the e-learning environment. The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the use of such resources and made online platforms indispensable in order to run language courses. Italy boasts a long tradition of in-class lectures and university-level instruction that is generally associated with face-to-face lessons [1, 2, 3]. Nevertheless, the need to find new methods of providing materials and online forms of interaction has, in fact, turned out to be an opportunity for rethinking methodologies and the renewal of content [4, 5]. The experience of Covid-19 provided the chance not only to discover new resources but also to use them in a more captivating format largely based on an interactive approach to learning [6, 7]. The use of online platforms and digital resources for teaching Arabic is very recent [8, 9]: the challenges of online language teaching coupled with Arabic teaching practice highlight a complex pre-existing situation. This complexity is due, firstly, to general backwardness in terms of methodology and practices and, secondly, to the objective difficulty of teaching a language characterised by such a sharp distinction between the oral and the written forms [10, 11, 12]. The coexistence of an official language—Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)—used in writing and formal communication alongside different varieties of the colloquial language used in everyday speech creates difficulties in teaching the language. Indeed, language teaching practices and teacher education for Arabic have been questioned in recent decades spurred by ongoing processes such as the growing number of multicultural contexts and classrooms [13], the exposure of both learners and teachers to different varieties of Arabic through the media, as well as the shifting role of non-native teachers and teacher trainers in institutional contexts. These issues call for a rethinking of the directions that teaching practice should take, as well as a reconsideration of the curriculum and language policy regarding Arabic [14]. Moreover, one of the most hotly debated issues in recent years centres on how students should be exposed to language variation [15, 16], not only from a theoretical but also from a practical point of view. In this respect, research into the teaching of Arabic lags somewhat behind that of research into the teaching of many European languages. There are some practical and ideological reasons for this backwardness such as the delegitimisation of the teaching of dialects, the scarcity of materials and the dilemma of what variety of teachers should choose. Introducing students to the Arabic pluriglossia must tackle the major issue of the role of dialect in the curriculum. The introduction of spoken varieties allows students to have insights into the sociolinguistic reality of the language they intend to learn and to develop indispensable skills in order to communicate with native speakers in informal as well as formal contexts. Spoken Arabic is often stigmatised as a less prestigious variety of Arabic, even though it is the language of choice for day-to-day communication for native Arabic speakers. Knowledge of a spoken variety of Arabic is essential for students who hope to integrate with the Arabic-speaking world [17, 18].

Although a certain awareness of this need has arisen in recent years, the teaching practice still reflects a traditional method based only on the Standard variety with a focus on grammar.

The use of online resources, such as video and interactive activities, as well as a rethinking of traditional methodologies experimented during the Covid-19 pandemic, provided the chance to reconsider the role of Spoken Arabic in our curriculum and to set out new content and new approaches to teaching practices.

In this perspective, we adopted MOODLE (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment) platform in order to show how online resources can be employed for ‘non-conventional’ content courses, such as the Arabic dialects. Both will have as a subject the construction of a Learning Unit (LU) of Colloquial Arabic (CA) about the same subject: ‘the market’. One LU will exemplify lessons for an Egyptian Arabic (EA) course, the other one for a Tunisian Arabic (TA) course. The two case studies are designed to exemplify how the same topic, for a class of the same L2 proficiency level, can be treated differently and, above all, to show how MOODLE can be used to enhance different types of lessons. The two case studies illustrated in our contribution deal with Egyptian and Tunisian, but the methodology can be adopted for all other colloquial varieties.

1.2 MOODLE as a didactic instrument and its functions

The use of teaching platforms and accessible online materials is a response to the increasing demand for distance courses and, consequently, the need for innovation in the methodological, technical and strategic approaches to language teaching. Technologies can facilitate and transform the learning environment in three ways: adding flexibility and strengthening in-class teaching; organising and sharing resources and aiding the collaborative process in teacher-student relations [19].

As pointed out by [20], an online course should thus be carefully planned in advance. Each section of the online contents must be decided in terms of prerequisites and learning objectives according to a pre-established syllabus, having clearly ordered the learning content and added suitable activities to each unit of learning content. Moreover, it is desirable to provide at least one quiz at the end of each section of the course to allow students to evaluate their learning achievements and provide discussion forums and chat rooms. Setting up an online course requires time and a clear design in terms of the overall structure and contents within the syllabus. Moreover, in distance language courses input can be easily provided, but the output is less straightforward. For this reason, a platform such as MOODLE, which is able to assess the students’ progress, was indispensable. MOODLE is one of the most popular programmes for the creation and organisation of online courses [21]. Its pedagogical basis and adaptiveness to the academic environment contributed to its popularity among teachers of different languages [22, 23, 24]. Its attractiveness lies in several advantages such as the interaction between learners and tutors, collaboration among learners, feedback on tasks and automatic backup.

The ‘distance’ modality has already created a potential element of change and innovation and aided the collaborative process in teacher-student relations. New technologies in the teaching field can create a dimension that is unlimited spatially and time-wise, with repeatability being a central feature that is generally missing in face-to-face teaching. Roma Tre University uses the MOODLE platform, an LMS (Learning Management System) open-source learning environment that provides software suitable for distance training. The use of MOODLE has become increasingly popular in foreign language teaching, and teachers are discovering that it has increased potential compared to other online learning environments. It can help language teachers and students, providing not only a place to share information but also a social environment where they can interact in a variety of settings. From a functional perspective, it has easily configurable features: the Activities function allows for a varied typology of learning activities and tests, such as glossaries and quizzes. There are also other instruments like Forum, Chat and Wiki that exploit the potential for exchange and interaction in a virtual environment. Such activities allow teachers to be involved in the students’ learning processes at different stages, enhancing active and participative online learning for individuals and groups. Activities begin with online socialising and becoming familiar with the technology, then move through the stages of information exchange to higher order thinking and engagement. Moreover, quizzes and forums give the teacher the chance to evaluate the students’ progress in terms of monitoring individuals as they complete the activities as well as the group’s progress in acquiring skills. In particular, the Forum is a useful communication tool: as long as there is an internet connection, teachers and students can communicate with their group at any time and from anywhere. Because forums are asynchronous, students can take their time formulating their messages or reading those of others and writing their replies. They can draft and rewrite until they are happy with the result, rather than feel under pressure to respond immediately. It is also possible to upload materials, such as texts and media resources, although, unlike Activities, these do not allow for interaction between participants. Moreover, teachers can use the resources of other platforms such as video website makers (like Animaker, described in 3.1.1). This flexibility, together with the potential extendibility of the MOODLE platform, make this platform extremely performant when planning a language course.

2. How to enhance colloquial Arabic teaching using MOODLE: two case studies

This chapter aims to show the application of some MOODLE functions by presenting two case studies. Both focus on the construction of a Learning Unit (LU) of Colloquial Arabic (CA) for an undergraduate blended class (face-to-face and online) on the same subject: the marketplace. One LU will present lessons for a Tunisian Arabic (TA) course and the other for an Egyptian Arabic (EA) course. The two case studies demonstrate how the same topic, for students at the same L2 proficiency level, can be dealt with in different ways and, above all, how MOODLE can be used to enhance different types of lessons. First, we will provide the details common to the two case studies: the characteristics of the class and the course considered, the language proficiency level and the objectives of the LU, the prerequisites, the teaching materials and the type of interaction. We will then go into further detail when describing the two LUs.

2.1 The context and the class

Although in theory MOODLE can be used for teaching Arabic Language at any level and in any class or context, this chapter will refer to a specific class type. Our example of the LU is designed for an Italian university student, whose education level is the second year of an undergraduate degree course. The average proficiency level for Arabic is therefore approximately between A1 and A2 of the CEFR, both for Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and CA¹. The students are following a curriculum where the language is taught alongside Arabic culture, and where MSA is introduced alongside CA varieties, both from a practical point of view (learning to master a dialect and MSA) and a theoretical one (the main notions of Arabic dialectology having been introduced since the beginning of the course). Additionally, the course provides two teaching methods for the same educational program: face-to-face and e-learning. In fact, some students regularly attend face-to-face lessons, while others follow the course online using the MOODLE platform. The contents of each LU are summarised in shorter video lessons uploaded weekly to the online platform, so both students attending face-to-face lessons and those in e-learning can take advantage of the video lessons using their MOODLE login credentials.

2.2 Prerequisites

The two case studies regard students at an A2 (CEFR) level. At the lower A1 level², students are able to write and read a vocalised text and understand and use very simple everyday expressions and basic phrases aimed at satisfying concrete needs; they can introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions using personal details. They can, moreover, interact in a simple way provided their interlocutor talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help. The variety chosen in the first year (pre-A1/A1) is MSA: any Arabic course planning also has to consider the objective difficulties related to very different alphabet, phonetic system and morphology. These difficulties take time to overcome, especially in the early learning phase: compared with European languages, students need extra time to assimilate certain notions and to pass to active learning with continual guidance on the part of the instructor. The A1 level requires, besides the basic grammatical notions, listening sessions and targeted work on vocabulary: everyday lexis is privileged and, in particular, vocabulary is chosen that is largely common to both CA and MSA³. Besides these specific issues, learners need to be aware of the situation of diglossia present in any community of Arabic speakers, and they should build up their language skills by knowing such variants and registers. From this perspective, a phonological, morphological and syntactical shift model⁴ between CA and MSA is introduced at the beginning of the undergraduate course. This offers a comparison between the characteristics of CA and MSA that can guide students in the study of Arabic variants so they can switch smoothly between CA and MSA. Moreover, an integrated approach [27] is adopted: CA and MSA are presented together, throughout the various stages of the learning process with the socio-communicative task (SCT) providing the main focus of the space dedicated to CA and MSA at each CEFR level. With this integrated approach, the requirements of the SCT are considered as the starting point for gradually introducing grammar and vocabulary as well as the framework within which any LU must be planned. From this perspective, the learning process must not only take into consideration developing the learners’ linguistic competencies but also provide them with the necessary tools to be able to manage variation ‘in ways that emulate native speakers’ linguistic behaviour in authentic contexts’ ([27], p. 69). This aspect requires a gradual introduction to how CA and MSA diverge: an awareness of CA and MSA differences must pass through an initial theoretical approach in which the teacher illustrates the basic phonetic and morphological differences between MSA and the major dialects. This introductory information will allow students to perceive the more delicate sociolinguistic issues regarding contexts of use, the mechanisms of code-mixing and, occasionally, the ideological import of colloquial variants in the Arab world. This introduction will give students a basis for acquiring the communicative skills needed in grasping the specific dialects presented in later LUs.

2.3 Aims

Hereafter, we will first outline the main objectives of the Arabic course and then describe the specific aims of the LUs analysed in two case studies.

2.3.1 General aims

The main objective of the 2nd year Arabic language course is to bring students to approximately an A2 level according to the CEFR. At this level, the student is supposed to be able to understand frequently used sentences and expressions relating to areas of the most immediate relevance (e.g., personal and family information, shopping, local geography), communicate in routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters, and describe in simple terms their background, their environment and their immediate needs ([25], p. 48, 49, 54, 62, 66).

However, the Arabic language presents specific difficulties for the learner and precise correspondence with the CEFR levels is not always practicable. In addition, as stated in 2.2, learners need to be aware of the situation of diglossia present in any community of Arabic speakers. Therefore, among the long-term learning objectives is the student’s ability to recognise the different conversational situations, linguistic contexts and registers adopted by native speakers as well as being able to adapt their own speech to the situation.

Furthermore, the pluriglossic reality of Arab countries requires that students not only understand and produce at least one variety of colloquial Arabic orally but also that they are able to read and write it. In fact, even though written production and comprehension focus mainly on the study of MSA, it is not enough for students merely to focus on mastering the Arabic alphabet. They must be able to read and write both in scientific transcription (necessary for gaining access to academic materials on Arabic dialectology) and in Arabizi⁵, the spontaneous transcription system used by native speakers to communicate on social media and used for written communication on everyday and informal topics.

It is also important to remember that even though this is an Arabic language course, its objectives are not limited to the acquisition of strictly linguistic skills. Transversal competencies and skills such as multicultural competence, multilingualism, problem-solving and cultural awareness and expression⁶ are central to the training of individuals who, in addition to abstract linguistic knowledge, will use the language with real people from different cultural backgrounds.

2.3.2 Specific learning objectives

As previously stated, we are setting out to show the potential of MOODLE and how this tool can improve the teaching of CA by examining a specific LU, the main topic of which is the marketplace. In fact, considering the need to present learners with real-life tasks, we opted for a conversational situation that everyone has to face soon after they arrive in an Arab country. Shopping is a need that cannot be avoided, but it can pose considerable difficulties for beginners: previously unheard expressions of courtesy, shopkeepers reeling off prices (including complex numbers), a vast lexicon that changes from one country to another, etc. Therefore, short-term objectives have been established for this LU in the marketplace.

From the lexical point of view, by the end of the lessons, the students should have expanded their repertoire regarding the semantic field in question. In particular, we will focus on terminology relating to fruit and vegetables, the names of the different vendors and shops as well as the verbs used most frequently when shopping (buy, weigh, pay, etc.). It is important to note that marketplace vocabulary, which largely belongs to the basic lexicon of a language, is one of the semantic fields strongly affected by diglossia in Arabic. Words used to express meanings such as ‘artichoke’, ‘courgette’ or ‘parsley’ vary greatly from one Arab country to another (sometimes even within the same country) and their MSA names are rarely used by speakers⁷.

Consequently, among the specific learning objectives of the LU, in addition to learning the vocabulary in the chosen dialect, we want to raise students’ awareness that this semantic field is subject to diglossia. They will therefore have to learn to relate to speakers by choosing MSA or CA according to the communicative context: they will probably read information about a product sold in a supermarket in MSA, but they will also have to be able to order the same product from the shopkeeper using the CA.

Another goal will be learning specific grammar rules, which we have chosen to introduce using a deductive method. Through listening and reading exercises, therefore, students will be introduced to morphological elements that they have never come across before.

Regarding multicultural competence, the goal is to broaden the students’ knowledge of the culture and habits relating to food and shopping in Arab countries. The marketplace is an important setting for interpersonal relations and a place where foreigners can test their linguistic and cultural skills from the very early stages of L2 acquisition. However, they must learn that going grocery shopping in an Arab country is not the same as in their home country. For example, bargaining is key and certain expressions of courtesy are necessary. Knowing how to express yourself in CA also circumvents being scorned by native speakers.

Finally, the most important objective is the fact that at the end of the LU the students have to demonstrate that they are able to go shopping in a real-life situation.

2.4 Didactic materials

As mentioned in Section 1, the in-class lecture is generally the preferred teaching methodology in Italy. It involves a teacher explaining a topic to a large classroom of students who listen, take notes and then study the notions autonomously at home. However, any language class should aim for a more communicative and interactive approach. Among other things, this implies that the materials chosen by the teacher are not limited to the textbook or mere teacher explanation.

By now, many younger students are used to studying foreign languages, at school, attending private courses or studying abroad. In classes offering the main European languages (English in particular), teachers generally opt for a communicative, collaborative and task-oriented approach, so students have become used to this kind of L2 learning.

Furthermore, digital natives are much inclined to use didactic tools that go beyond the textbook: video, chat rooms, online tandems, various apps and quizzes are just some of the alternatives to the printed page when learning a language. In addition to this, the pandemic and social isolation, during which people could only escape to virtual reality, increased the trend in making more use of such spaces: indeed, they are now perceived as real as actual physical spaces.

Given these assumptions, we decided to structure the LUs exploiting various materials and not just the traditional printed texts of the classroom-taught lesson. The LUs will clearly, and initially, require the use of a textbook; additionally, finding manuals of Arabic dialects is not always easy, and very often students find themselves studying a foreign language (the Arabic dialect) via a second foreign language (usually French, English or German). Regarding TA, for example, most teaching materials are in French⁸, which not every Italian student knows. It is therefore useful if the teacher’s explanations and the textbook are accompanied by additional materials that use only the source language (e.g., Italian) and the target language (in this case TA). In teaching EA, we find similar problems as it is not easy to find textbooks suitable for Italian students. Recently in Italy, however, we can note that some textbooks for EA are being published in order to respond to Italian students’ needs.⁹

Other didactic materials used in the LUs make use of video, including PowerPoint with the key concepts of the topic summarised and a recording of the teacher explaining significant concepts. These video lessons, uploaded weekly to the MOODLE platform and in a password-protected space, are available for all students, whether they attend face-to-face classes or follow online. Furthermore, students can discuss the topics covered using the MOODLE Forum.

In addition to the textbook and video lessons, students can take advantage of all the different types of quizzes offered by MOODLE. Depending on their educational needs, and trying to vary as much as possible, the teacher can ask students to practise with quizzes based on multiple-choice or true/false questions, ‘spot the odd one out’, gap-filling exercises and cloze tests. We believe that these kinds of tests, in addition to being excellent drills, provide positive reinforcement for the student since they are not evaluative (they do not affect the student’s final mark) but are a useful self-evaluative tool. By practising constantly, the students will see their scores improve and they will undoubtedly acquire self-confidence and interest in the subject. MOODLE also allows users to set up questions not only in written form but also by proposing an audio track with a question or answer. This makes the exercises more realistic as, especially at the initial levels (A1-A2), the language studied is mainly oral ([27], p. 47–70).

One of the many advantages of MOODLE is the Assignment function, which gives the teacher the opportunity to set up homework and to specify the type of file that students have to upload in order to complete a task required. In addition, when using the Forum function, the teacher can create a discussion topic focusing, for instance, on a cultural aspect related to the LU, so that students can exchange opinions and observations about the topic in question.

MOODLE also offers interesting possibilities regarding vocabulary. First of all, since it is possible to insert links to Internet websites on the main class page, students can receive suggestions about where to look for words they do not know using both online and printed resources. Thus, for example, a student searching for a new word in the studied dialect will have access to both paper dictionaries suggested in class, and online resources, for which the teacher has uploaded links to the main page of the course on MOODLE. Furthermore, MOODLE allows for the creation of a cooperative glossary. This is a tool that each teacher can decide to set up according to his/her needs and preferences. Basically, it is a series of forms with a title and a description (where it is also possible to upload files, such as images or audio tracks) and the system automatically records the words inserted in alphabetical order. Both students and the teachers can insert the vocabulary learned in any particular LU. Above all, the tool is collaborative since it is produced by the joint efforts of the entire class, recording the lexis encountered up to that moment. The method for inserting the lexical material is decided at the beginning of the course. Solimando [7] has recently discussed how the glossary was used for an MSA class, and modifications of this can be made for a CA class. First of all, the headwords can be inserted in Arabic graphemes in transcription and accompanied by a recorded audio track.

It is possible to insert a translation and an example of the use of the word in context, always employing the two alphabetic systems and placing them side by side accompanied by the recorded audio track (see Figure 1). It is also possible to insert synonyms and antonyms by creating intertextual links.

Figure 1.

Example of a Moodle glossary entry: “Persil” (ma‘dnūs).

Finally, with MOODLE students can access a multitude of specialised apps and websites for computer-mediated teaching. In fact, as they think fit, teachers can program which tool to use to make a lesson more dynamic and then upload the finished product or link to the MOODLE class page. In these LUs, for example, we use software such as Animaker (that allows users to create animated videos using pre-given characters and templates), Quizlet (that provides tools for studying and learning, such as digital flashcards, matching games and live quizzes) and Lingt Editor (that specialises in creating speaking assignments and assessment for students).

2.5 Interaction

Interaction in these LUs should be as varied as possible: sometimes the teacher will speak alone to the class, sometimes he/she will address the whole class, sometimes an individual student will be asked to answer questions, while at other times the students will work in pairs or in groups. Furthermore, as the course is divided into students who attend face-to-face lessons and others who follow online, the interaction of some learners is only mediated by MOODLE, by watching and listening to video lessons and practising by completing various kinds of quizzes.

We believe that keeping interaction as varied as possible helps to maintain students’ interest and focus. We also believe that moving away from the traditional in-class lecture can help to develop skills associated with active participation by students, especially oral comprehension and production skills.

Furthermore, in the traditional type of lesson, in which little time is given over to orality and where the focus is on writing (often adopting the grammar-translation method), many students feel extremely shy when speaking a language they have not yet mastered. In this scenario, students only compare themselves with their teacher, whether he/she is a native Arabic speaker or not, and this increases insecurity. Varying this interaction and allowing students to compare themselves with their peers can help them to overcome shyness and acquire self-confidence. It is for this reason that teacher-student interaction should occasionally change to student–student interaction (i.e., working in pairs or in groups).

Furthermore, the interaction between students takes place both in the physical space of the university classroom and in the virtual space of MOODLE. In fact, having the Forum and a large number of non-evaluative exercises available certainly helps students to build up confidence in the L2. It also helps to mechanise some linguistic processes, which, without this chance to practise, would be very difficult to apply in a real communicative situation.

3. Case study: a learning unit for Tunisian Arabic

3.1 Structure: the PPP

The LU for TA will follow a Presentation, Practice, Production (PPP) structure ([36], p. 64–68). Originating from structural-situational teaching, the main objective of PPP is to place language in a clear situational context. It is one of the most common ways to structure a teaching activity, and is mainly used to teach the linguistic system (i.e., phonology, vocabulary, morphology, etc.) and linguistic functions (i.e., to actively put the L2 into practice for a specific purpose, such as ordering something, apologising for something or introducing someone).

We opted for this structure for the LU about the marketplace in TA, but, of course, it would be opportune to change the structure from time to time. Among others, it is possible to use the Flipped Classroom, ESA or Task-Based Learning methods¹⁰. In order to stimulate students’ interest and to keep their level of attention high, it is important not to choose the same didactic approach at all times.

The PPP structure comprises three phases. The first is Presentation, where the LU topic is introduced and students are provided with a context for the topic. The second is Practice, when the students put into practice the linguistic forms introduced earlier. Generally, this phase involves a limited degree of arbitrariness with the students first practising with simple mechanical exercises; only later do they deal with more difficult exercises with a greater degree of freedom in the linguistic choices available. For example, simple drills or gap-filling exercises are recommended at the start before progressing to more complex cloze-type quizzes. Finally, the third phase is Production, i.e., free practice, when the students autonomously apply the language to real-life tasks.

Speaking more specifically about the marketplace topic, the Presentation involves the introduction of new vocabulary relating to the semantic field of fruit and vegetables, while the grammar input relates to the imperative verb tense. The Practice includes various lexical, phonological and morphological exercises, which, by exploiting the many tools offered by MOODLE, allow students to put the L2 into practice. Finally, the Production phase involves students being able to simulate going shopping, interacting with vendors, negotiating prices and ordering things using the imperative.

3.1.1 Presentation

At the beginning of any LU, regardless of the learning strategy adopted, it is necessary to introduce the topic. The proposal for the LU of the marketplace in TA starts with a warm-up exercise and the presentation of the lexicon.

The teacher first shows the students a video supported by the Animaker software¹¹, introducing the LU lexis and related morphology. The video is created by the teacher him/herself to bridge any gaps in teaching materials. As stated in Section 2.4, in fact, it is not always possible to find pre-packaged products, particularly audio-visual materials for teaching Arabic dialects. In order to provide support for parts of the lesson for which the textbook is not sufficient, it is important for the teacher to know about, and learn how to use, alternative tools. In this respect, MOODLE is extremely useful as it allows users to upload various kinds of links and files. In this specific case, the teacher created a short educational video using Animaker to explore a marketplace. By having two fictitious characters interact (Figures 2 and 3), students can see the best-selling products as well as the names of the most common stalls.

Figure 2.

Example of didactic video created with Animaker “At the marketplace” (fi-l-māršī).

Figure 3.

Example of didactic video created with Animaker: “Greengrocer” (ḫaḍḍār).

The video, previously uploaded on MOODLE, gives the teacher the chance to start a little conversation with the students. Firstly, the teacher drills students in pronunciation and vocabulary, asking them to repeat the names of the objects they have just seen in the video. Then he/she can start asking more complex questions, perhaps about the students’ favourite fruit and vegetables or asking them to describe their favourite dishes and their ingredients. Students in e-learning can carry out this task using Forum. This is the first part of the lesson, so the primary goals are to activate students’ schemata to provide a context for the topic and introduce the lexicon.

The Presentation then continues with vocabulary building. In this part of the LU, teacher-student interaction (when the teacher speaks to the whole class or questions an individual student) develops alongside the student’s autonomous production. In fact, the oral conversation exercise that takes place in the physical class is supported by a series of virtual exercises previously uploaded on MOODLE. The platform also allows the users to set up various word games, such as matching recorded audio to the correct word and translating it (see Figure 4)¹² or moving the name of an object (a vegetable, for example) to the correct blank space in a picture (see Figure 5).¹³

Figure 4.

Example of Moodle activity: Listen to the audio and choose the correct answer.

Figure 5.

Example of Moodle activity: Drag the word into the correct blank space.

Multiple-choice quizzes can also be created using an audio track instead of written prompts, providing students with slightly more complex exercises such as listening to sentences and matching the correct unit of measurement to each product (see Figure 6)¹⁴.

Figure 6.

Example of Moodle activity: Choose the correct answer (multiple choice quiz).

In this way, the teacher also drills students in phonetics using an alternative method to traditional dictation.

From time to time, this kind of exercise can be carried out by every student on his/her own device with time limits set by the teacher; it can also be done collectively and orally using the teacher’s device and projected in the classroom or used at home for independent study.

As mentioned in 2.4, students have access to reference materials, both printed and online, for the entire course and this is particularly important when studying vocabulary. For this LU, for example, we propose two online dictionaries (Derja.Ninja [38], an English-Tunisian Arabic dictionary in which entries can be looked up both in Arabic characters and in Arabizi; and TuniCo [39], a product of an important University of Vienna project, in which entries can be looked up in scientific transcription) in addition to printed dictionaries (an English-Tunisian dictionary written for the Peace Corps [40]; an old French-Tunisian dictionary with a large number of headwords [41] and a modern general Maghrebi Arabic to French dictionary [42]).

After introducing and practising the vocabulary, the Presentation part of the LU introduces the grammar. Here, students are offered sentences (heard and perhaps spoken during the lesson) that include both verbs in the imperative tense (‘amr) and present tense (muḍāri‘). Focussing on the imperative verbs, the teacher elicits from the students why they are different, thus introducing grammar in a real-life situation and making the students deduce the grammar rule for themselves. Moreover, the teacher can encourage learners to compare the rules for imperatives in MSA with those just encountered in TA. We believe that this comparative approach helps to develop students’ metalinguistic analytical skills and encourages the memorisation of corresponding structures in both language varieties.

Once the theory is understood, students can put the learned rules into practice using drills. For example, we propose a multiple choice test in which the student has to select the correct imperative form of the corresponding verbs in the past tense (māḍī).

Finally, in order to focus on lexis and grammar structures, the textbook is a fundamental tool: a text read out loud with textual comprehension questions is a useful way of revising new words, grammar and syntax, alongside examples of a well-structured dialogue that the student can also imitate in oral production.

As stated above, classroom lessons are always accompanied by a PowerPoint summary on the MOODLE platform. At any time, students can find the main concepts of the LU explained with diagrams, and with the recorded voice of the teacher. As independent work to be done at home, the students must then complete the collaborative glossary, inserting any new words encountered accompanied by all the additional information they can find (sentences exemplifying how the word is used, morphological characteristics, the correct spelling in all the required systems of writing etc.).

3.1.2 Practice

In this part of the LU, students have to put into practice the topics studied using the L2, first through controlled practice, i.e., with mechanical exercises and a low level of arbitrariness, then with a ‘semi-controlled practice’, i.e., with greater freedom.

Various drills and word-games have already been presented in the previous section, all of which provide excellent examples of how MOODLE can assist in putting the L2 into practice. Another extremely interesting way to learn and revise vocabulary is provided by the Quizlet software [43]¹⁵. This gives teachers the chance to create flashcards on any topic: you only need to find a suitable image on the Internet or on your device and associate it with the required word. The word can be written clearly in whatever graphemes the user prefers and it can also be linked to an audio version. In addition, Quizlet allows for the creation of word games, such as ‘match the pairs’.

As Figure 7 illustrates, you have many pictures of objects and the words for them scattered across the screen; there is a timed challenge to make all the pairs disappear by matching them correctly. These are always extremely dynamic stimulating exercises that help to train the memory. Of course, the link to the online resource can be uploaded to MOODLE.

Figure 7.

Example of Quizlet activity: Match the pairs.

As to other resources already available on MOODLE, the platform also offers the chance to create tests of greater complexity than those seen so far.

Therefore, for semi-controlled practice, we propose (see Figure 8) an exercise in which the student has to understand a written text, choose the right meaning to insert in the empty space from the five options offered and insert it in the correct grammatical form¹⁶. It turns out that in this exercise the degree of freedom in the linguistic choices available is higher than in the previous exercise, and consequently the difficulty increases. This type of practice is usually left to individual study: again, the individual is always at the centre of interaction in a process of self-evaluation and absorbing the concepts presented.

Figure 8.

Example of Moodle activity: Choose the correct word (multiple choice quiz).

3.1.3 Production

After the topic has been introduced and after the students have understood and learned the vocabulary and grammar and put it into practice with supervised exercises, they are ready for free practice. This is the final part of the LU, which tests the learner and shows if the topic covered has been mastered. It is also a fundamental part of the teaching-learning process since it allows the language studied in theory to be applied to a real-life situation, i.e., through a real-life task. At this stage, it is, in fact, the students who have to produce the L2 to complete a task, and they have to do so by interacting with others, whether they are native speakers or classmates.

The interaction therefore changes completely compared to that adopted in the early stages of learning: from vertical interaction where it is mainly the teacher who addresses the students, we now move to horizontal interaction where the students interact with each other. Pair and group work are privileged in the Production stage; this is a good way to increase the time that the students spend talking in the L2, such output is necessary for language acquisition.

In this LU, in particular, the task that the students have to complete takes place through group work within a role-playing framework, i.e., one of the preferred means acknowledged by Constructivism for teaching the L2. Indeed, it is believed that knowledge arises through a process of active construction and that learning occurs when the students interact with the world around them. Moreover, according to the Communicative approach, it is important to put the emphasis on task-oriented activities where the students play an active role in order to develop their communicative abilities.

For this part of the LU, therefore, the teacher creates groups of 5–6 people, trying to mix the students appropriately (that is, creating balanced groups both from the point of view of their pre-existing knowledge and their behaviour in class). In each group, one student will be identified as a customer that goes shopping to the market.

The remaining students in the group will play the role of shopkeepers. Once the groups have been created and the roles have been assigned, the teacher will give the student-customer a pre-prepared shopping list. To complete the task, the student will have to pretend to go to the market, interact with all the merchants from whom he/she has to buy products, negotiate the price, ask for the right quantities and pay correctly.

In addition to being fun and dynamic, an exercise of this type facilitates the simulation of a possible interaction in a real linguistic context. Furthermore, knowing how to carry out this task indicates that the student is actually capable of putting into practice all the linguistic data (phonetic, morphological, lexical, syntactic) introduced in the previous lessons.

4. Case study: a learning unit for Egyptian Arabic

4.1 Structure: the flipped classroom

Studying EA in a Western country means little or no exposure to the language outside the classroom. It is to implement the number of hours dedicated to the L2 that some of the teaching materials will be assigned as homework before the lesson, in line with the Flipped Classroom structure¹⁷. In fact, we stress the importance of providing a weekly lesson plan, uploaded to the MOODLE platform, that sets out what the student should prepare autonomously before attending the class.

The materials presented follow the Communicative Approach that puts the student at the heart of the learning process, the teacher’s role revolving around organising a varied linguistic input according to the learners’ needs [45]. The materials are also chosen with the aim of giving the student a more effective and independent role within the learning process. Therefore, the class is divided into small groups, so that students can interact with each other, while the teacher acts as a facilitator. In line with this methodology, grammar rules are presented starting from a real context of use and through a process of exploration, although without going into unnecessary detail.

The case study is divided into three parts, each part preparatory to the next one: students start building basic vocabulary in EA (e.g., fruit and vegetable lexicon) and end up carrying out more complex skills, such as having a whole conversation in a food market. The materials presented do not overlook the cultural aspect: the student will thus be introduced to Egyptian cuisine and its distinctive dishes.

4.1.1 Expand vocabulary

The first LU activity consists in expanding the vocabulary through the MOODLE Glossary. In line with the Flipped Classroom structure, this activity is carried out independently by the students: it consists of an initial vocabulary list given by the teacher that they have to study before class. The words are entered in the Glossary in Arabic alphabet alongside an image and a recording of the pronunciation, without the need to add a translation or transcription (Figure 9).

Figure 9.

Examples of Moodle glossary entries: “Tomato” (طماطم); “Rocket” (جرجير); “Orange” (برتقان).

Leaving the lexicon of fruit and vegetables to self-study is a choice due to various reasons. First of all, it allows the teacher to focus, during the face-to-face lesson, on communicative exercises that use the same lexicon. Furthermore, given the lexical and phonetic similarity between the words in EA and MSA, the student can easily and independently develop a metalinguistic reflection. During the lesson, students’ attention can thus be drawn to phonetic differences between EA and MSA that they have already heard, for example, the regular pronunciation of the letter qāf ([q] in MSA) as [ʔ] in EA.

Among the advantages of the Glossary is that synonyms can be inserted: in Figure 9 the two alternatives ṭamāṭim and ‘ūṭa (typical of Cairo) are proposed for the meaning of ‘tomato’.

After drilling the students on pronunciation, the teacher can evaluate what the students were able to assimilate when working on their own before class through MOODLE’s Quiz function.

Students who are following the class remotely can access Quiz from the MOODLE platform, while face-to-face students can use their own electronic devices. For a smoother experience, it is highly recommended to carry out these activities in a language lab where ‘Communication happens in pairs or in groups using objective language. Students try innovative things in a lab than in a classroom. Audio, video, multimedia, and the internet collectively provide resources with which the students respond. For students, attending lab sessions is a retreat from the traditional classroom sessions. They find it an effective and versatile tool in providing interactive sessions to the students to learn the language or swiftly undergo any activity’ ([46], p. 2).

We will now show some examples of exercises, from the simplest to the most complex. We started with quizzes based on listening and identifying, as it is sufficient at this stage for the student to recognise the meaning without needing to read. We, therefore, use mainly multiple-choice questions¹⁸ allowing the teacher to insert pictures and voice recordings: students must look at the picture, listen to different recordings, and match the picture with the appropriate name of the fruit while repeating it various times (Figure 10); or they must listen to the name of a fruit or vegetable and match it with the right picture while repeating the correct word.

Figure 10.

Example of Moodle activity: Listen to the audio and choose the correct answer.

We then move to a more challenging exercise where students are asked to work in small groups to discuss and read words, so they can finally drag each type of fruit or vegetable and put it in the correct place¹⁹ (Figure 11) or choose the correct word for each picture from many types of fruit and vegetable²⁰.

Figure 11.

Example of Moodle Activity: Look at the picture and choose the correct word (Multiple choice quiz).

MOODLE Assignment can now be used to set up homework exercises so that students can apply and practise what they have learned in this part of the LU. In the assignment we suggest, students are asked to write down the types of fruit and vegetables they would like to add to a salad and then record what they have written. They can upload this to Assignment so that the teacher can listen to their recordings and provide feedback on their pronunciation.

4.1.2 Oral comprehension and production

The second part of the LU focuses on providing students with the language and communication skills they need to start a conversation with a vendor at the marketplace.

It begins with presenting the key phrases that will help students to express their needs at the market. The expressions, written, translated, illustrated and recorded, are listed in the Glossary. To make sure that the meaning is clear, the word is placed in a frequently used sentence context. In this way, we expand the vocabulary necessary for exchanges in the marketplace. Later, the students will study at home the mentioned expressions by listening to the recordings, re-reading the expressions in the given contexts, and trying to create simple dialogues.

In addition, students further practise new expressions through quizzes similar to those proposed in paragraph 4.1.1, which prepare them for simple listening about the subject.

Teachers of EA sometimes face the challenges posed by finding authentic audio and visual materials. Scenes from Egyptian films and TV series can be used to simulate authentic communicative situations, but these types of audio-visual resources are sometimes unsuitable for beginners as they require more highly developed language skills. It is therefore inevitable to resort to pre-made materials: we made use of an existing YouTube video created by an EA teacher [47] to simulate real everyday life situations. Students watch part of the video in class—relating specifically to the LU topic—talking about it in small groups using the guidelines and questions prepared by the teacher on Assignment (Figure 12), before they discuss it with the teacher.

Figure 12.

Example of Moodle Activity: First part: Watch the video and answer the questions (in Italian); Part Two: Watch the video and answer the questions (in Arabic); Part Three: Guess the meaning.

For homework, we propose a multiple-choice exercise²¹ using Quiz. Here students must watch and listen to the part of the video that they have already worked on during class to complete the missing parts of the text by choosing the right answer from the various options available. This requires paying greater attention and listening carefully to each word in the video.

We preferred to avoid detailed explanations of grammar rules, which are presented only in restricted contexts in this phase, but which will gradually be introduced by the teacher according to each SCT.

The MOODLE platform also allows teachers to upload links to educational sites that can simulate real communicative situations. For example, a tool like Lingt Editor [48] can be used with Assignments for speaking exercises and to assess student progress. This site allows the teacher to record the role of the vendor but leaves the role of the buyer blank for the student to record it themselves (Figure 13). Consequently, students practise what they have learned, and the teacher can listen to and evaluate each student separately.

Figure 13.

Example of speaking activity supported by Lingt editor.

4.1.3 Culture

This part of the LU focuses on cultural aspects and can be integrated using Forum, where the teacher adds instructions guiding students through two video clips [49, 50], one of a popular Egyptian market and the other about the fruit and vegetable section in a famous supermarket in Egypt. Both are authentic videos showing Egyptian citizens on a market/supermarket tour.

Students autonomously watch the two videos and lead a discussion on Forum: what they heard and saw about fruit and vegetables, their observations about the differences between the popular market and the famous supermarket or the discussion on prices. In their discussions on Forum, students can use EA, MSA or their mother tongue, given that the main purpose of this activity is cultural rather than linguistic. The teacher follows up on what the students discussed and during class watches the videos with the students, exchanges opinions and observations with them, and discusses any of the points that they have shared on the Forum.

To extend the cultural dimension, we can also use Forum to create a new discussion topic about Egyptian food. In this activity, the students are divided into small groups: each group is responsible for a famous Egyptian recipe, and they have to discover what its ingredients are and how it is made. To achieve this goal, the students communicate through social media with students studying Italian at Egyptian universities to obtain information about the dishes. The communication between the students and their Egyptian counterparts must be in EA using Italian only when necessary: indeed, at this stage, it is important to indicate to the Egyptian students the level of EA they should use and to try not to go beyond it. Our own students thus come back with information about Egyptian recipes and post it on Forum, preparing an oral presentation in EA. The purpose of this activity is to expose students to EA outside the classroom, i.e., to hear it and to practise it authentically with Egyptians, as well as to expand their cultural awareness of Egyptian society. Activities involving communication with Egyptian students can be repeated throughout the academic year as necessary, based on the various cultural topics that are raised.

5. Conclusion

The two case studies examined to demonstrate how an online platform like MOODLE can provide captivating strategies for learning about linguistic variation, a field that is still largely unexplored. There is a certain aversion to the teaching of spoken varieties in TAFL (Teaching Arabic as Foreign Language) linked to an ideological reluctance to teach dialects, compounded by a lack of appropriate teaching materials. In an academic context, dialects are mostly taught according to dialectological methods and the role reserved for them is minor compared to MSA. Although the CEFR is also a point of reference for the teaching practices of non-European languages, Arabic instructors do not appear to give sufficient importance to the communicative approach emphasised in the CEFR descriptors, even though learning Arabic also requires competence in one or more dialects.

Creative use of MOODLE’s functions allows for a potentially limitless range of materials—audio extracts, quizzes and videos—that can meet and satisfy students’ needs in their search for motivating and enjoyable language practice. The PPP structure (Presentation–Practice–Production) is very efficient: in Presentation the LU topic is introduced and students are provided with a context for the topic (vocabulary and morphology); in Practice, the students put into practice the linguistic forms introduced earlier through the different degree of freedom in the linguistic choices available. Only in the third phase, the Production, the students autonomously apply the language to real-life tasks. The choice of the same topic for Tunisian and Egyptian dialect, allows to show how this methodology can be easily adapted to other colloquial varieties and how flexible the MOODLE platform is. The interactive activities should be seen within the framework of a collaborative relationship between student and teacher. This stimulating approach can easily be applied to the teaching of one or more colloquial varieties. From this perspective, the two case studies presented here show how complementary the activities can be when MOODLE is exploited to the full. Here the teacher’s role is more active since s/he has to manage the platform appropriately in order to cover all educational requirements – whether lexical, audio-visual or, more generally, grammatical – using a deductive approach. The content and the methodology adopted demonstrate the need to design an Arabic Second Language syllabus using an integrated approach, in which Arabic is presented in its oral as well as in its written varieties. This allows students to be aware of the linguistic reality of Arabic and to be confident in using the opportune form in different SCTs.

Author’s contribution

The Teaching Dialect in Arabic Language Courses project is coordinated by C. Solimando and is taught at Roma Tre University by A. Abdelbary and L. Panascì. This paper is the result of the project. All three authors collaborated on the article: for academic purposes, C. Solimando is responsible for sections 1.1, 1.2, 2.2, 5, L. Panascì for 2.1, 2.3, 2.3.1, 2.3.1, 2.3.2, 2.4, 2.5, 3.1, 3.1.1, 3.1.2, 3.1.3 and A. Abdelbary for 4.1, 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3.